Indian Agriculture Minister Calls for Canadian Investment

INDIA - In order to promote agriculture trade between two countries, Indian agriculture minister, Radha Mohan Singh has met Gerry Ritz, Canadian Minister for Agriculture and Agri-Food in New Delhi recently.

Singh urged his Canadian counterpart to expedite finalization of the work plan paving way for the visits of scientists from both countries to each other’s institutions.

He also requested Canadian side to explore possibilities for importing agricultural commodities such as tomatoes, grapes etc. from India to reduce trade imbalance between the two countries.

Singh also called for Canadian investment in cold storage infrastructure and technology for ecologically sustainable cold chains and evinced interest in the Canadian expertise and technology from production through processing, storage and distribution.

On its part, Canadian minister ensured that Canada would be happy to cooperate and collaborate with India to move forward the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by two countries in 2009.

Canada would also like to share its technology for enhancing India’s production and productivity in the agriculture sector, Ritz stressed.

Ritz also met Anup Kumar Thakur, secretary, Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries and Dr. S.Ayyappan, secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education among others.